Damsel Undaunted

4

Breaking glass. And then, the unmistakable hoarse groans of the Disceased.

I shoot up immeadiately, a hand at the dagger I at my hip. I could sense Hunter having done the same from beside me. Well, not beside me, because the person beside me was--

I suck in a breath.

Emma.

I turn my head frantically, and breathe a sigh of relief when I see that she's positioned right behind Hunter. The position we were in meant that I was closest to the Disceased--plural--that were trapping us in.

We needed to work, and fast. Judging from the fact that they were able to hear and see us from inside this store, they weren't just the usual low level Disceased that ran rampant around the place, these were the more lethal ones.

Nobody knows how some of them were better than others. No one knows anything about the Disceased, actually. But I do know, from the very few people I've encountered along the way and my own observations, that the population of Disceased was split 45 to 65--45 were the faster ones, the ones who could hear just as well as the humans they were before. They could see better, sense things better. They were more like humans than the rest of The Disceased, with one thing in common:

They were blinded by the constant need for nothing other than human flesh, and they barely felt any pain.

There were still a lot of the ones who were Better, but at least there were more of the weaker ones-- a small grace, but one that was very important.

I made quick work of some of them, slashing and kicking, making sure to keep my mouth clamped shut the whole time. I cut my dagger down the face of one, before slashing through its neck until nothing more than the bone connected it. I'd have to leave it like that, for now. There were more Disceased to tend to.

Hunter, I realized, had been helping me. Slashing and fighting while Sara stayed a distance at his back where she was trapped between a wall and his body, effectively cutting off any way the Disceased could get her unless it was by defeating Hunter. And Hunter wasn't letting that happen.

I slashed the dagger through one of its eyes in one quick motion, bringing my hand back as fast as I could to avoid being bitten. Just in time too, because a second after I pulled my hand away, it had snapped its teeth at the space my arm was, hissing.

Hunter killed another one of them, kicking their bodies away from his feet with a face wrinkled up in disgust. That meant that there was only one Disceased left: the one I had just slashed.

Hunter and I began backing up, and I motioned for Hunter to move one way so I could go the other way, making more noise than they did so that it would follow after me. Now that it couldn't see, it had to rely on other instincts, other senses.

I analyzed the situation in my mind. Close quarters mean that I'd have to kill it and plan very carefully how I do this, especially with Sara (and Hunter) present. "Clamped," I said to Sara. I didn't beed to look to know that she'd be clamping her lips shut from now. I sensed her pulling, very carefully, two facemasks for her and Hunter.

In the meantime, the Disceased had been thrashing around, preparing to attack me. I kicked it back, but in a different direction from the two. It stumbled back a bit, but immeadiately went charging back at me.

But that was all I needed. I stabbed its neck and moved the dagger a bit, so that it was partially severed. It's body was, somehow, still functioning as its arms grappled the air in front of it for me. I kicked it away again, but since it had come closer to me, my kick only went as far as its shins instead of square in the middle of its body. The stumble back was a bit shorter this time, and its head lolled to one side, rotten flesh and bone peeking out.